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Title: Rinkitink in Oz
Author: L. Frank Baum
Illustrator: John R. Neill
Release Date: May 24, 2008 [EBook #25581]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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RINKITINK IN OZ
BY
L. FRANK BAUM
AUTHOR OF
The Road to Oz, Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz, The
Emerald City of Oz, The Land of Oz, Ozma of Oz,
The Patchwork Girl of Oz, Tik-Tok of
Oz, The Scarecrow of Oz
ILLUSTRATED BY
JOHN R. NEILL
The Reilly & Britton Co.
Chicago
INTRODUCING THIS STORY
Here is a story with a boy hero, and a boy of whom
you have never before heard. There are girls in the
story, too, including our old friend Dorothy, and
some of the characters wander a good way from the
Land of Oz before they all assemble in the Emerald
City to take part in Ozma's banquet. Indeed, I think
you will find this story quite different from the other
histories of Oz, but I hope you will not like it the less
on that account.
If I am permitted to write another Oz book it will
tell of some thrilling adventures encountered by
Dorothy, Betsy Bobbin, Trot and the Patchwork Girl
right in the Land of Oz, and how they discovered
some amazing creatures that never could have existed
outside a fairyland. I have an idea that about the time
you are reading this story of Rinkitink I shall be
writing that story of Adventures in Oz.
Don't fail to write me often and give me your
advice and suggestions, which I always appreciate. I
get a good many letters from my readers, but every
one is a joy to me and I answer them as soon as I can
find time to do so.
L. Frank Baum
Royal Historian of Oz
"OZCOT"
at HOLLYWOOD
in CALIFORNIA
1916.
LIST OF CHAPTERS
1
The Prince of Pingaree
17
2
The Coming of King Rinkitink
29
3
The Warriors from the North
44
4
The Deserted Island
56
5
The Three Pearls
71
6
The Magic Boat
92
7
The Twin Islands
109
8
Rinkitink Makes a Great Mistake
127
9
A Present for Zella
142
10
The Cunning of Queen Cor
153
11
Zella Goes to Coregos
167
12
The Excitement of Bilbil the Goat
175
13
Zella Saves the Prince
180
14
The Escape
192
15
The Flight of the Rulers
210
16
Nikobob Refuses a Crown
216
17
The Nome King
226
18
Inga Parts with his Pink Pearl
237
19
Rinkitink Chuckles
265
20
Dorothy to the Rescue
275
21
The Wizard Finds an Enchantment
281
22
Ozma's Banquet
291
23
The Pearl Kingdom
301
24
The Captive King
307
The Prince of Pingaree
CHAPTER 1
If you have a map of the Land of Oz handy, you
will find that the great Nonestic Ocean washes the
shores of the Kingdom of Rinkitink, between which
and the Land of Oz lies a strip of the country of the
Nome King and a Sandy Desert. The Kingdom of
Rinkitink isn't very big and lies close to the ocean, all
the houses and the King's palace being built near the
shore. The people live much upon the water, boating
and fishing, and the wealth of Rinkitink is gained
from trading along the coast and with the islands
nearest it.
Four days' journey by boat to the north of
Rinkitink is the Island of Pingaree, and as our story
begins here I must tell you something about this
island. At the north end of Pingaree, where it is
widest, the land is a mile from shore to shore, but at
the south end it is scarcely half a mile broad; thus,
although Pingaree is four miles long, from north to
south, it cannot be called a very big island. It is
exceedingly pretty, however, and to the gulls who
approach it from the sea it must resemble a huge
green wedge lying upon the waters, for its grass and
trees give it the color of an emerald.
The grass came to the edge of the sloping shores;
the beautiful trees occupied all the central portion of
Pingaree, forming a continuous grove where the
branches met high overhead and there was just space
beneath them for the cosy houses of the inhabitants.
These houses were scattered everywhere throughout
the island, so that there was no town or city, unless
the whole island might be called a city. The canopy of
leaves, high overhead, formed a shelter from sun and
rain, and the dwellers in the grove could all look past
the straight tree-trunks and across the grassy slopes to
the purple waters of the Nonestic Ocean.
At the big end of the island, at the north, stood the
royal palace of King Kitticut, the lord and ruler of
Pingaree. It was a beautiful palace, built entirely of
snow-white marble and capped by domes of burnished
gold, for the King was exceedingly wealthy. All along
the coast of Pingaree were found the largest and finest
pearls in the whole world.
These pearls grew within the shells of big oysters,
and the people raked the oysters from their watery
beds, sought out the milky pearls and carried them
dutifully to their King. Therefore, once every year His
Majesty was able to send six of his boats, with sixty
rowers and many sacks of the valuable pearls, to the
Kingdom of Rinkitink, where there was a city called
Gilgad, in which King Rinkitink's palace stood on a
rocky headland and served, with its high towers, as a
lighthouse to guide sailors to the harbor. In Gilgad the
pearls from Pingaree were purchased by the King's
treasurer, and the boats went back to the island laden
with stores of rich merchandise and such supplies of
food as the people and the royal family of Pingaree
needed.
The Pingaree people never visited any other land
but that of Rinkitink, and so there were few other
lands that knew there was such an island. To the
southwest was an island called the Isle of Phreex,
where the inhabitants had no use for pearls. And far
north of Pingaree—six days' journey by boat, it was
said—were twin islands named Regos and Coregos,
inhabited by a fierce and warlike people.
Many years before this story really begins, ten big
boatloads of those fierce warriors of Regos and
Coregos visited Pingaree, landing suddenly upon the
north end of the island. There they began to plunder
and conquer, as was their custom, but the people of
Pingaree, although neither so big nor so strong as
their foes, were able to defeat them and drive them all
back to the sea, where a great storm overtook the
raiders from Regos and Coregos and destroyed them
and their boats, not a single warrior returning to his
own country.
This defeat of the enemy seemed the more
wonderful because the pearl-fishers of Pingaree were
mild and peaceful in disposition and seldom quarreled
even among themselves. Their only weapons were
their oyster rakes; yet the fact remains that they drove
their fierce enemies from Regos and Coregos from
their shores.
King Kitticut was only a boy when this remarkable
battle was fought, and now his hair was gray; but he
remembered the day well and, during the years that
followed, his one constant fear was of another
invasion of his enemies. He feared they might send a
more numerous army to his island, both for conquest
and revenge, in which case there could be little hope
of successfully opposing them.
This anxiety on the part of King Kitticut led him to
keep a sharp lookout for strange boats, one of his men
patrolling the beach constantly, but he was too wise to
allow any fear to make him or his subjects unhappy.
He was a good King and lived very contentedly in his
fine palace, with his fair Queen Garee and their one
child, Prince Inga.
The wealth of Pingaree increased year by year; and
the happiness of the people increased, too. Perhaps
there was no place, outside the Land of Oz, where
contentment and peace were more manifest than on
this pretty island, hidden in the bosom of the Nonestic
Ocean. Had these conditions remained undisturbed,
there would have been no need to speak of Pingaree in
this story.
Prince Inga, the heir to all the riches and the
kingship of Pingaree, grew up surrounded by every
luxury; but he was a manly little fellow, although
somewhat too grave and thoughtful, and he could
never bear to be idle a single minute. He knew where
the finest oysters lay hidden along the coast and was
as successful in finding pearls as any of the men of the
island, although he was so slight and small. He had a
little boat of his own and a rake for dragging up the
oysters and he was very proud indeed when he could
carry a big white pearl to his father.
There was no school upon the island, as the people
of Pingaree were far removed from the state of
civilization that gives our modern children such
advantages as schools and learned professors, but the
King owned several manuscript books, the pages
being made of sheepskin. Being a man of intelligence,
he was able to teach his son something of reading,
writing and arithmetic.
When studying his lessons Prince Inga used to go
into the grove near his father's palace and climb into
the branches of a tall tree, where he had built a
platform with a comfortable seat to rest upon, all
hidden by the canopy of leaves. There, with no one to
disturb him, he would pore over the sheepskin on
which were written the queer characters of the
Pingarese language.
King Kitticut was very proud of his little son, as
well he might be, and he soon felt a high respect for
Inga's judgment and thought that he was worthy to be
taken into the confidence of his father in many matters
of state. He taught the boy the needs of the people and
how to rule them justly, for some day he knew that
Inga would be King in his place. One day he called his
son to his side and said to him:
"Our island now seems peaceful enough, Inga, and
we are happy and prosperous, but I cannot forget
those terrible people of Regos and Coregos. My
constant fear is that they will send a fleet of boats to
search for those of their race whom we defeated many
years ago, and whom the sea afterwards destroyed. If
the warriors come in great numbers we may be unable
to oppose them, for my people are little trained to
fighting at best; they surely would cause us much
injury and suffering."
"Are we, then, less powerful than in my
grandfather's day?" asked Prince Inga.
The King shook his head thoughtfully.
